REGION: Eastern Municipal Water District to go with tiered bills in March

Customers who use excess water could see rates rise dramatically

Along with just about everything else in life, water bills are
getting more complicated.

Starting this month, Eastern Municipal Water District customers
will be billed in tiers -- the lowest tier providing for 60 gallons
per person for inside use -- showers, cooking, washing dishes,
laundry. Bills for that first month of tiered billing will arrive
in April and bills for users who stay under the tier-one level
could be as much as 30 percent lower, Eastern said.

The 60-gallons-per-day allocation should be more than adequate,
Eastern officials say. For example, a five-minute shower using a
low-flow nozzle uses just 12 gallons of water. But water gets more
expensive beyond that 60-gallon allocation.

- Tier two water will cost nearly twice as much as tier one;
most of the water in that tier is expected to be used for
irrigating plants and trees outside. Usage is based on a
3,000-square-foot average for yards.

- Tier-three water is deemed "excessive" and will cost more
three times as much as tier-one water.

- For "wasteful" use of water, tier four, a series of fines
begins, and the water is billed at about six times the tier-one
rate.

The bills for most Eastern customers should remain about the
same, the company says, if they stay within tiers one and two. It
gets complicated after that. Allocations are based on three-person
households; families with more people need to apply for a variance
to have their first-tier allocation adjusted upward. Tier-two
allocations also are adjusted by season.

For water used in January and February, Eastern's customers have
received "shadow" bills, showing a forecast of their four-tiered
bill.

On Monday, the future arrives. From that day onward, bills will
be calculated on the tiered system.

Eastern serves about 130,000 customers in Murrieta, Menifee,
Hemet, Perris, Moreno Valley and San Jacinto. The water district
plans to add temporary staffers in anticipation of handling extra
telephone calls from customers who need help figuring out the new
bills. It also has scheduled three seminars to explain the new
billing plan.

Some customers in Menifee are waiting to see what their new
bills bring.

"I'm not sure how it will play out or how it will affect us,"
said Richard Dame, a retired mechanical engineer.

Teacher David Brown said he has not yet studied the details of
the tiered plan but he says expansive lawns make no sense in this
climate. "If you're going to water like this is England, you should
have to pay more."

Eastern says its goal is to reduce water usage, although a
target has not yet been established.

In deploying the new rate structure, Eastern joins other area
water districts that already have made that change or are planning
to convert. All are responding to diminished availability of water
for the region.

Rancho California Water District switched to the tiered rates a
few years ago. It's a two-level plan now, but Rancho says it is
exploring the idea of converting to a three-level plan.

Western Municipal Water District also is working on a tiered
billing plan -- it wants to reduce water use by at least 16
percent. Western serves about 825,000 people in the western part of
the county.